Doctors Against Texas House Bill 2300

We, medical doctors of Texas, oppose House Bill 2300 because it has severe consequences on our patient population who suffer from acute post-traumatic pain and our hospitals. We ask the members of the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee to join doctors in opposing this bill. This bill will limit our injured patients access to healthcare in the community and will force them to seek care almost exclusively in the emergency room setting, which is significantly more expensive than outpatient conservative care. This will create a chain of events that leads to increased patient debt by repeated visits to the ER and a hospital system that will not be able to collect on these debts, which will eventually be written off as an expense of doing business in Texas. The Texas Medical Association estimates there are 4.3 million uninsured Texans, of which 623,000 are children. This is 16% of our population. These patients are already disenfranchised, should they suffer a traumatic physical event, they will be left with no recourse whatsoever, as repeated ER visits will not heal their pain, but will only increase to their financial hardship. Also note, even for those patients that have health insurance, many insurance companies refuse to pay for treatment related to an injury, putting doctors in the very uncomfortable position of deciding whether to treat the patient for free or advise the patient to find another doctor. According to the Texas Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Facts of 2015, 1 person was injured every 2 minutes and 8 seconds. Should House Bill 2300 pass, this would mean that every 128 seconds a patient suffering from severe pain will be forced to only receive care at an emergency room, and will not be offered the appropriate, more affordable care he/she is entitled to.

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Texas House of Representatives Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee: Doctors Against Texas House Bill 2300